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Qantas Joeys win against Malaysia

The Qantas Joeys (Australia U-17) opened their qualifying campaign for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup with a 2-0 win over Malaysia at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore overnight.

The Qantas Joeys (Australia U-17) opened their qualifying campaign for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup with a 2-0 win over Malaysia at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore overnight.

Australia are now well placed to progress to next year-s AFC U-16 Championship following last night-s win and also the late withdrawal of East Timor from the preliminary competition. The Qantas Joeys will complete their preliminary qualifying matches on Friday against DPR Korea with two of thee teams to progress.

First half goals from Marc Warren and Eli Babalj secured the win in the first competitive international match for the current generation of Qantas Joeys.

Warren captained the side in he absence of injured skipper Brendan Hamill and opened the scoring in the 14th minute when his speculative shot from the left flank deceived the goalkeeper. Babalj doubled the advantage on the half-hour when he swooped on a loose ball after the goalkeeper has spilt a shot on goal.

The group matches will be completed on Sunday when Malaysia face DPR Korea.

“We found the pitch a bit hard,” said Australian coach Martyn Crook. “The players had difficulty with the speed of the ball over the surface and that suited the nippy Malaysians more than us. They had some good players.”